


bakers gonna bake bake bake

by illay



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, Alternate Universe - Baking Competition, Fluff, M/M, POV Alternating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:27:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23876896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/illay/pseuds/illay
Summary: The host introduces the panel of judges and then Jeno’s team, “A contestant who’s been winning baking competitions all over the tri-state area, today on a Meet The CEO Special we can welcome Lee Jeno himself, founder of Sweet Nothings, together with his right-hand man, the store manager, Lee Donghyuck."
Relationships: Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 8
Kudos: 127
Collections: nono birthday bash





	bakers gonna bake bake bake

**Author's Note:**

  * For [octie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/octie/gifts).



> for octie <33  
> I hope this is at least a bit satisfactory, as for "falling in love on set of a baking competition".  
> I for real planned this to be under 4K. IDK what happened with that.
> 
> HBD to the best boy ever c:

🍰

Donghyuck is standing on his tippy toes next to Jeno, trying to see past the crew and the huge cameras, hoping to catch a glimpse of their competition. “Hoping for an easy win here, boss?” 

Jeno scoffs at that, he knows Donghyuck doesn’t really believe him to be that self-obsessed and his remarks are rather just harmless teasing. “No win is ever easy, you know that. We have to do our best to beat whoever we’re up against, it doesn’t matter how shit they’re gonna be, we’re giving it our all. Capisce? We haven’t traveled across the whole state to throw this.”

He doesn’t look at Donghyuck, but going by the tone of his voice, he’s sure his co-worker just rolled his eyes at him, “Yeah, sure.”

It’s only fifteen minutes to show time and Jeno realizes he’s getting the jitters. He’s used to baking competitions, sure, he’s attended one or two himself in the past, but they’re usually not televised. And it’s usually Donghyuck and Chenle carrying it out for Jeno’s bakery. But this particular episode calls for bakery owners, so Jeno had to make the trip himself.

It’s not only that he’s nervous he’s not gonna do well, it’s a combination of everything - he’s not used to hair and makeup, all the disinterested spectators by the sidelines - the crew and writers. And also the fact that they have no idea who their competition is, that’s what makes the Sweet Jaws episodes interesting - the contestants don’t know who they’re up against until they start rolling and the introductory pre-recordings play on the LCD screens in the studio.

Soon, the set lights up in purple hues, the camera crew gets in their positions and Donghyuck and Jeno are sent to their workstation to wait for the director’s call. Jeno glances at the other workstation at the studio, mirror image of the one he and Donghyuck occupy - large counter space, the most professional equipment, shiny and brand new. Nothing like what he works with back home at their bakery. Jeno gets a glimpse of their opponents - two guys their age, the shorter one with a relaxed, almost bored expression on his face, and the other one with a wide grin and bright pink hair. The smile looks so artificial to Jeno, he already doesn’t like this dude.

The director calls “Action!” and the show starts. The host introduces the panel of judges and then Jeno’s team, “A contestant who’s been winning baking competitions all over the tri-state area, today on a Meet The CEO Special we can welcome Lee Jeno himself, founder of Sweet Nothings, together with his right-hand man, the store manager, Lee Donghyuck. Let’s meet them together!”

Cutaway to the pre-recording means the host can drop the posture and manic smile and go through his cue cards while the mini interview plays on a large screen in front of them.

Donghyuck on the screen starts right away with the answer to a question captioned in the corner of the screen, “Our motivation for joining-, definitely to show the other team that they suck!” Jeno on the screen shakes his head, “What Donghyuck is trying to say is, we’re here to do our best. It’s always good to show the world even small local shops are capable of a lot.”

The caption on the video asks them about their background and there’s a cut to shots from their bakery back home, with Chenle and Donghyuck working on pastries in the back, and Jeno’s voice-over, “Two years after we graduated from Kendall college as pastry chefs, I persuaded Donghyuck to give this a shot with me and we managed to put together enough finances to open up our own shop. It’s been tough, trying to compete with big chains that pop up everywhere and anywhere, but I believe we’ve gained enough loyal customers who love returning to us.”

Again a caption appears over the footage of Donghyuck and Jeno in the studio, asking what they’re gonna do in case they win the promised sum of money, Jeno on the screen responds, “We’d definitely upscale our equipment, having worked with, although top-brand, but amateur machines so far, we’d like to get more professional. And unfortunately, that sorta investment is not possible for us without any help.” The video ends with a shot of the front of their store on a busy street; dainty chains of firefly lights wound around a tall potted plant by the entrance, the few tables at their cafe visible through the large window. Even if Jeno wouldn’t have been there the day of the filming, he could probably guess which day of the week this was shot based on the clients walking in on the screen, some have a pretty regular schedule and of course, he knows it by heart.

Right after their video ends, the host introduces their opponents. “Our next contestant is a bit unusual for our show. I don’t think we’ve ever had a name like this on here. Known for everything varying from cupcakes and pastries to birthday and wedding cakes, popular all over the country with their twenty-something franchises, we have today with us Na Jaemin and Royal Icing.” 

Jeno is sure he’s heard wrong.

A second clip rolls right away. The video starts with a logo of none else but the notoriously known, large bakery franchise Royal Icing and it has Jeno confused for a little. Confused and a little offended that he has to look at the logo of the impersonal chain, one of which locations popped up right across the street from Sweet Nothings, ruining their business with their dumb drive-thru and easily manufactured pastry.

Their competition shows up on the screen: Na Jaemin, CEO of Royal Icing. Huang Renjun, head pastry chef of Royal Icing at the main location.

Donghyuck and Jeno exchange a stare, he didn’t hear wrong. Jeno’s jaw almost meets the ground and Donghyuck’s eyes pop out of their sockets. The Royal Icing is joining a competition like Sweet Jaws? What even for? They’re not struggling financially to need the money offered, surely. And what are they gonna compete at? Unfreezing their croissants? It’s like comparing McDonald’s manufactury with some local bistro menu. There is nothing to compete at for Royal Icing and Sweet Nothings. One look between Donghyuck and Jeno lets them share that much, they’re both thinking exactly the same thing; this sure is an unusual pairing, Sweet Nothings against Royal Icing.

Meanwhile, on the screen, the pink-haired guy, Na Jaemin, says around a wide smile, “Our motivation to join was to let people know that even a big chain as Royal Icing is a family-run business, a place where we care about our recipes and our customers.” 

When the captioned question asks about their background in baking, Jaemin puts his hands in front of himself, shaking his head he says, “I don’t have any formal education in culinary, actually studied marketing in college. My background is my heritage, my grandpa founded Royal Icing and now after my father’s retired, I’m continuing the family tradition as the CEO of the company,” he finishes with the same bright smile on his face. That smile is unnerving Jeno for some reason as he watches the screen, and it frustrates him that he can’t quite put his finger on why.

The guy next to Jaemin, Huang Renjun, shares about his background as well, “Two years ago I graduated from Wangsen Bakery and Western Cuisine School in Shanghai, after several internships at Michelin star restaurants during my studies, I got a job with Royal Icing and made head chef,” he ends with a self-appreciative nod. On the screen, Jaemin clasps his shoulder and quickly adds, “Renjun is also responsible for several new items on our menus across the country, and we do not add new items that often.”

Jeno looks over at Donghyuck, who rolls his eyes at the video; those two are sounding like snobby pricks, boasting about one of the most expensive culinary schools in the world. Jeno will figure out what irks him about Na Jaemin’s smile later. For now, he’s glad he and Donghyuck are on the same wavelength about their competition.

The question about their possible investment plans comes on the screen and Jaemin gives another answer that makes Jeno’s eyes roll back into his skull. Pretentious. “As we are not in a financial crisis currently, the money - if we manage to take it home, would go to a charity. The charity shall remain a secret until we win, though.”

How fucking full of himself must the dude be to come on a show and say he doesn’t need the cash prize? Says he doesn’t know anything about baking, inherited a company and now doesn’t even want the money? What is he here for then? A simple publicity stunt, that’s for sure.

Once the video is over, Jeno chances a look at their competition, this time in real life. Renjun is browsing through a notebook, fiddling with a pen in his hand, Jeno would guess he’s going over some recipe ideas before they get the prompt for the first round. Meanwhile, Jaemin is hovering above his shoulder, maybe trying to get a peek, maybe just to not look like he has nothing to do. He drums his fingers on the edge of the countertop, shuffles from one foot to the other. He looks visibly nervous and Jeno knows, logically, that he should be glad about that. A nervous competition is the best competition, he’s not sure how he feels seeing the guy like this, though.

Donghyuck pulls him from his musings, some sketches of four-tier cakes in his hands, “This ain’t a staring competition, what’s so interesting over there?” he asks, looking curiously over to the Royal Icing workstation as well. 

Jeno gets in his view right away, shielding Jaemin and Renjun from Donghyuck’s stare, again, without really knowing why he’s doing so. He motions to the papers in Donghyuck’s hands, “You figure it’ll be a four-tier situation?”

Donghyuck shrugs, “I dunno. The first round will be pastry, confection or cupcakes. I’m guessing cupcakes, with royalty over there,” he motions in the direction of the other team, “they’ll wanna make it tough. But for the cake round, I think we’ll have to go big this time.”

“We don’t have to be worried, right? We can manage a four-tier in under three hours.”

Donghyuck frowns a little, “We can, but. So can they,” he throws a glance at Jaemin and Renjun, Jaemin is currently fiddling with the big stand mixer, while Renjun is speaking to him about his notes and ideas, presumably. “Or, Renjun can, at least,” he adds. “Not really sure what mister CEO’s son is doing here, but whatever.”

A light swat at Donghyuck’s upper arm to let him know to behave, “He’s the CEO now and this episode literally called for the CEOs to be present. Also, look at him,” Jaemin is clumsily trying to reattach the flat beater he managed to remove from the machine, “He’s probably gonna make good TV.” If Jaemin’s whole face, his whole being, is bothering Jeno for some unknown reason, at least he gets to share a laugh with Donghyuck about him.

🍰

The first round passes by in a blur, Jeno and Donghyuck work on their two different batches of cupcakes, two batters, one type of vanilla filling and two frostings - one maple syrup with salted caramel and one lemon drizzle. The timer of the round is about to go off as Donghyuck is adding finishing touches to their samples. They taste-tested everything and all the components should be in the best condition possible. Jeno is proud of them both.

The first round calls for a high quantity of uniform cupcakes. Part of the challenge is organizing everything. Donghyuck and Jeno have experience with having to make 200 cupcakes in one day, but two hours, that’s really pushing it. Jeno figures the trophy and the money by the end of the day will be worth it. 

He steals a glance at their competition - which he tried to avoid doing throughout the round, and almost bursts out laughing when he spots Jaemin; two hours in and he’s covered in flour, there’s some dried up batter in his hair from what Jeno can see, and the young inheritor of the bakery chain looks pretty beat.

Jeno looks over at Renjun who seems to be keeping his apron still pristine clean, which is simply suspicious, especially since from the looks of it, Renjun is the one doing all the work, Jeno can see him piping an outrageously purple type of frosting onto their cupcakes at lightning speed. From looking at the two of them, Jeno would guess Jaemin only stood around and occasionally reached for some batter and flour to spread across his clothes during the first round.

Jeno’s eyes follow back to Jaemin and their gazes meet for a moment, Jaemin frowning, a big fat pout on his lips, like he’s unhappy with Jeno looking over to them at all. For a second, Jeno can’t take his eyes off him and that’s when he gets to see Jaemin’s frown disappear, his eyes widening a little as if he realized he got caught in the act of staring at their opponents as well. They hold the eye contact only for two seconds, before both scramble to do anything else at their workstations.

Jeno feels hot in the face and doesn’t lift his gaze for the remainder of the round.

🍰

The first round is a total mess. Full on hell. Jaemin is no pastry chef. He has been to his kitchens before, though, sure. Especially at their main location, when he needs to pull Renjun into a meeting, he always has to go look for him in the kitchen, and it reminds him of his childhood. Growing up, he would always run around and annoy the chefs with his questions - whenever his father wasn’t scolding him, Jaemin would happily inquire about the job of a chef. As a kid, he thought he was supposed to grow up to be a pastry chef as well, just like grandpa. When Jaemin was about nine, his father clarified his plans for the future CEO sternly enough that Jaemin didn’t dare dream about it anymore. Behind his father’s back, he still managed to learn how to work with fondant and modeling chocolate pretty well - his therapist praised him for finding a creative endeavor. 

There is no fondant work with cupcakes, though. Only eggs cracking, sticky softened butter, clouds of flour, and the still red and burning pad of his ring finger from when he touched a saucepan with caramel. No fondant work means Jaemin is essentially useless. Renjun had him measure out the ingredients, which went well for about five minutes, and then he started losing track of how many more cups of milk to add and it all went downhill from there.

Baking is hell. Decorating is better, it’s like art, but baking is more just manual labor and chemistry, weighing, measuring, keeping the correct ratio, temperatures - it’s all too complicated. After Jaemin turned on the stand mixer on high speed and got dusted in flour, Renjun wouldn’t let him help with decorating either. Which, Jaemin figures, is just fair.

Jaemin watches the speed at which Renjun uses the piping bag with the frosting precisely on top of each cupcake with the same twist, under the same angle. If he didn’t know any better, Jaemin would believe these were factory-made.

The opposing team seems also to be about done with everything, Jaemin can see racks full of cupcakes, and although the not-CEO, whatever his name was, is not as fast as Renjun when it comes to piping, he doesn’t look clumsy either.

The moment Jaemin’s eyes find the dark-haired CEO watching Renjun curiously, his face scrunches up into a frown without him really noticing. He doesn’t even remember his name, Johnny, Jani, Jennie - something along those lines. How dare he ogle Renjun at work, as if he had nothing better to do while his co-worker is doing everything on his own? Shouldn’t an owner of a bakery be skilled enough to do the job as well? Jaemin decides their opponent is really unprofessional.

The man lifts his gaze and the second their eyes meet, his name appears clear as day in Jaemin’s memory - Lee Jeno. It’s silly how suddenly, he remembers the video from the beginning of the round, Jeno and his dumb smile and nose scrunches when he laughs.

They’re looking at each other only for two beats of his heart, but even after Jaemin averts his gaze to look into the floor right away, he can’t help but keep seeing those eyes in his mind. He really, really wants to look up to see if Jeno is still looking, if he’s looking again, but he’s proud enough to not have to do that. So with a head held high, he does everything within his power to appear busy by the countertop next to Renjun for the remainder of the round.

“I told you to stand over there. You’ll fuck up my rhythm,” Renjun says, not even looking up from the last batch of cupcakes he needs to add frosting to.

Jaemin huffs a little, but obliges, scooching over a few steps away from the cupcakes. “I don’t like our competition,” he announces in a low mumble.

“Good, you’re not here to like them,” Renjun agrees. After a few seconds, he adds, “I’m not even looking at you and I can tell you’re pouting. What is it?”

A sigh escapes Jaemin’s lips as he’s getting ready to start trash-talking their opponents when Renjun grunts dismissively, “Actually, nevermind, changed my mind, don’t wanna hear it.”

Jaemin continues pouting while waiting around for Renjun to finish (they still have a few minutes left). With no outlet for his thoughts in the form of whining to Renjun, Jaemin needs to let those thoughts live in his head rent-free; thinking about a stupidly handsome face of a Kendall college graduate.

🍰

The whole judge-tasting and scoring process goes a bit over Jaemin’s head if he should be honest. Good thing, no one is here to quiz him about the show itself.

They (or rather, Renjun) prepared over 200 cupcakes but only five are taken to the judges for tasting. Naturally. No one can eat that many cupcakes in one sitting. What happens to the rest, Jaemin has no idea. Are they gonna be scrapped? Given out? Sold? He’s curious, but also afraid to ask, feeling like he should know this prior to coming here.

Being so out of his element is kind of getting to him.

There’s a break for workstation cleanup, and meanwhile, the contestants can go get their hair and makeup fixed - as an intern comes to tell them, looking mostly at Jaemin and his batter-sticky hair.

He gets back from hair and makeup to the waiting area quickly. He comes back to sit down next to Renjun who’s on his phone, as always, while rolling out his shoulders and paying attention to his posture, probably being hunched over 200 cupcakes and frosting them at the speed of light is not the easiest thing to do. 

Jaemin looks around, still a little lost, and quite tired already, too. He spots Jeno and his colleague over at their workstation, getting interviewed by the host. When leaning onto his elbows, Jaemin can even hear pretty decently.

“I wouldn’t say it’s always been a dream of mine, to open my own bakery,” Jeno says and his cheeks lift up in a smile as he looks at Donghyuck. “It just happened,” Jeno continues, “I had no idea what to do with my life and I’ve always liked baking, as it’s one of few creative hobbies that self-destruct.”

Next to him, Donghyuck rolls his eyes and provides an explanation, “Jeno hates clutter, so baking was the ideal creative outlet, never any traces left after his creations,” he smacks Jeno’s upper arm playfully, Jeno just scrunches up his nose in a smile and lets out this small cute giggle that makes Jaemin wish he’d recorded it so he could maybe play it over and over again.

Jaemin can’t make out the host’s questions, but Jeno and Donghyuck provide enough context.

“First time I baked on my own, I was maybe sixteen? It was just oatmeal cookies or something like that, but just the fact I made them edible was pretty incredible to me,” Jeno says with a small self-satisfied smile on his face. Jaemin looks away for a second, just to regain some composure. An ordinary man like Lee Jeno shouldn’t be so endearing and, dare Jaemin say, handsome.

Meanwhile, in front of the camera, Jeno continues, “First recipe I was trying to develop? That must have been during college,” he looks over to Donghyuck as if looking for clues, for some shared memory from their college times. To the host, Jeno says, “I think it was a cranberry angel food type of situation. I’m pretty sure we had to improve a well-established recipe for an assignment, or such. But I wouldn’t be able to tell you what I did to that recipe back then. Probably butchered it a little,” they share a laugh with Donghyuck and Jaemin wants to clock at least one of them for some reason. He wouldn’t be able to say whom first or why.

Next, they talk about the beginnings of their bakery. Jeno’s smile turns smaller, like he’s talking about something important, something precious, personal. “Growing up, I didn’t have much, and my grandma always used to say that if I’ll ever find something I’m good at, and proud of, I should show everyone. No matter how hard the beginnings might be, financially or otherwise. She’s always supported me going after what made me a better person, not after what would bring more success. Because let me tell you, running a small bakery like that, there’s not as much profit as people like to think.” Jeno’s tone is level, gentle, there’s something soothing about it to Jaemin’s ear. He wouldn’t admit it out loud to anyone ever, but he’d be able to listen to him talk for days probably.

Donghyuck shares his experience as well. “Jeno really wanted to open his own shop after we graduated. Right away, it would have been a really really stupid financial decision. My biggest personal achievement is having persuaded him to wait until we save up a little. I was on board easily cause I like the guy, and it ain’t like I’ve had any big plans for myself anyway,” Donghyuck is speaking as if Jeno wasn’t standing right next to him, but right away nudges at Jeno’s elbow with a small smile lifting the corners of his lips. That again makes Jeno smile so hard his eyes form those cute little crescents, and Jaemin’s heart melts just a little more.

Renjun pulls him out of his daze quickly, a little coldly perhaps, “You know this is a baking competition and not match-making reality tv, right? We’re not looking for your future boyfriend here.”

Jaemin shoots him a glare, “Shut it, Renjun. Most of us aren’t lucky bastards with boyfriends who would love us from halfway across the world,” he motions towards Renjun’s phone. So maybe Jaemin is a bit more bitter about Mark’s existence than he’d normally admit. It’s just when Renjun is trying to be funny about Jaemin being perpetually single, then Jaemin gets a little defensive.

“Jealous, much?” Renjun asks.

“Yes, jealous, now shut up, leave me alone,” Jaemin says with a pout and gets back to watching Jeno and Donghyuck, who now are also on their break, sitting just a few meters away. Jeno on-camera is cute, all smiles and nice posture. Jeno off-camera somehow gives off even warmer aura, something about the way he carries himself seems very harmless and welcoming. Later on, Jaemin would point out this moment right here as the beginning of his attraction towards Lee Jeno.

Next to him, Renjun sighs, again scrolling through his phone. Not looking at Jaemin, he says, “We’re not in a match-making reality tv, but that doesn’t mean you can’t talk to him.”

“Why would I be doing that?”

“Ask for his number, I dunno,” Renjun says with a shrug, still not looking up, “You should allow yourself more freedom, Na Jaemin. Just let yourself hope for once, and not just bury your head in work all the time, maybe.”

Jaemin looks over at him, Renjun only ever uses his full name when he’s being so sincere he wants it to come off as a joke in fear of sounding too soft. Jaemin appreciates that.

🍰

With their workstation all nice and clean for the second and last round, Jeno can feel some of the nervousness return to him. The scoring on this show is a bit unpredictable, as it’s kept secret until the very end. So one of the teams is ahead in terms of points, but they won’t know until the end of the day. Not knowing makes Jeno feel a little tingle in his fingertips as he’s working on laying the baking pans with parchment. 

The batter is easy. They’re going for layered, tiered cake - four tiers as Donghyuck suggested in the morning. Alternating layers of rum-infused chocolate sponge and lighter, vanilla one with bits of nuts. 

Once the cakes are in the oven, they start on the soaks, fillings, and frostings. The time flies by and soon they are assembling their cakes. Jeno is in charge of making it structurally sound while Donghyuck is prepping their decorations. 

Attaching a cake board to their central dowel, Jeno looks over to their opponents. If he looked up hoping to get a little confidence boost from seeing the young CEO panicking again, he’s gotta admit that was misplaced. He sees Jaemin working out sheets of fondant, a serious concentrated expression on his face. Jeno has to physically shake his head to dispel the thoughts appearing in his head - Na Jaemin is kinda hot when he’s focused on something.

At the back of his mind, Jeno is asking the stars to make Jaemin look up, just like by the end of the first round. He’s not entirely sure why he’s hoping for that, but he figures he’d like to see Jaemin lose some of the concentration, he’d like him to be curious about Jeno as well, maybe.

Donghyuck pulls Jeno out of his thoughts, also looking over at Jaemin, he scoffs, “They’re not even using royal icing, fucking lame, ain’t it?”

Jeno looks back at him, he wonders how long has Donghyuck been watching him staring at Jaemin and hopes to not hear any witty comments about it. “Yeah. Lame. But he seems to know what he’s doing with that, right?”

“Huh,” Donghyuck stops what he’s doing to give all his attention to Jaemin. “True. He seemed so lost in the first round, it’s surprising. Good for him tho, not being totally useless. Maybe he’d be willing to teach you fondant work as well.”

Jeno can hear the snark in Donghyuck’s voice. In a low voice, he just grumbles. “You know I don’t even use fondant on cakes.”

“And you know that’s not what I was hinting at,” Donghyuck sing-songs.

Jeno decides not to respond to that, knowing full well Donghyuck would just one-up him again. Sometimes Jeno hates how easy it is for Donghyuck to read him.

🍰

The three and half hours are over way too quickly, and although Jeno and Donghyuck managed to smooth out all the edges before the official end (quite literally, working with frosting all over the four tiers of the cake, there was a lot of smoothing out), it still felt unfinished to Jeno. He’s not used to working on such big cakes so quickly. Usually, with custom cakes they have to do, there’s always time to get back to it and add a detail here or there, before the customer picks it up.

Here, however, it’s hands-off the second the timer goes off. The cake stands, the pastel colors are there in the frosting, the wafer paper flowers are simply beautiful; Donghyuck’s always been great with these little details.

The same assistant from before comes to inform them about a break, “Leave the workstations as they are, we’ll take pictures of the cakes and clean up. Meanwhile, feel free to go to the backroom, get your hair and makeup fixed if needed, have a snack, whatever. Ten to fifteen minutes.”

She walks over to the Royal Icing team and talks to Renjun, asks for an interview, most likely. Renjun starts fixing his apron and the rolled-up sleeves, while Jaemin walks away, looking absolutely knackered.

Donghyuck stalls to eavesdrop for Renjun’s interview to start. “Petty,” Jeno comments through a small laugh as he’s leaving him there in favor of going to sit down in the backroom.

Before he leaves the scene, he can hear Renjun starting talking about his university days. The terms “best culinary school in the world” and “most renowned chefs as mentors” were being thrown around, as expected, the head pastry chef of Royal Icing is a snob.

Jeno finds Jaemin sitting down in a corner of the backroom, head hung low between his shoulders, elbows leaning against his knees. The faded pink hair shows also the black roots from this angle. A piece of Jeno’s mind wonders if it’s his style or if he just wanted to stand out on tv. The rest of his mind is just mesmerized and absentmindedly realizes he wants to run his fingers through Jaemin’s hair, maybe pet his head or rub his shoulders. That part’s hazy, though, cause he’s not going to be thinking inappropriate thoughts about the CEO of a sworn enemy. He’s better than that, probably.

He picks up two water bottles and brings one up into Jaemin’s line of sight, “You okay there?”

Jaemin looks up, head still hung low, he’s looking up from behind the overgrown fringe, the tips must be tickling him around the eyes. Now Jeno really wants to simply reach out and swipe them away.

Before he can do anything as mortifying as that, Jaemin sits up properly and shakes out his hair, getting it again into the comfy, purposefully lazy-looking wave the hairstylist intended. Jaemin’s eyes are big, full of surprise, but he reaches for the water anyway. He stretches out his legs, “I never had to be this long in the kitchen without a real break. This shit’s brutal,” he whines.

A light scoff escapes Jeno’s throat before he can stop it. “Don’t you work at a bakery?”

Probably unhappy with the smirk at Jeno’s lips, Jaemin pouts, which reminds Jeno of the first time they looked at each other earlier today during the cupcake round, “I own a chain of bakeries, I don’t actually bake there. I don’t bake in general, save the occasional banana bread at home,” he cracks open the bottle to take a sip, but before he even brings it to his lips, he lets his hand drop again with a sigh, “Ah, this is a trainwreck.”

Something about the exhaustion in Jaemin’s tone and in his eyes makes Jeno pity him a little. Feel for him. Jaemin is basically an amateur, getting involved in a competition like this must be a lot. “You seemed to be okay with the fondant,” Jeno offers, for some reason hoping to make him feel better. He can see Jaemin’s lips quirking up into a smile, “I mean, from what I saw, you didn’t look totally hopeless.”

Jaemin is wearing a satisfied smile now and Jeno can’t decide if it’s better than the sad, tired pout or not. “You watched me a lot, Lee Jeno?”

Jaemin looks like he’s intended to make Jeno flustered saying that. Even when it wasn’t totally true - Jeno wasn’t watching Jaemin that much, the tone in Jaemin’s voice was playful enough to make Jeno stammer a little, “I mean, no, not a lot! I might have glanced at you once or twice, maybe,” Jeno really wants to wipe the smug smile off his face. “And besides, you looked over at me, too.”

Jaemin shrugs, “Didn’t have anything better to do.”

Jeno’s turn to let a smile spread on his lips, “Covered in batter and flour head to toe, there were no left-over tasks for you then?”

Jaemin tries to stifle the laughter but isn’t as successful, “Yes, thank you very much, that was indeed my to-do list for the first round. I’m glad I did so well that even you noticed.”

The sound of Jaemin laughing alongside him is really something. Jeno wishes to be able to hear it again, to be able to make him laugh again.

Jeno smiles, taking a sip from his water, “I also noticed you were quite the little helper in the second round.”

That makes Jaemin look somewhere near his toes, biting his bottom lip as he tries to refrain from smiling too wide; the bashful look kind of suits him. Then again, Jeno is finding out any expression on Jaemin looks good. “Didn’t think the owner of Royal Icing can do anything in the kitchen, right?” Jaemin looks at him with this smaller smile, like he wants to be proud of himself, but doesn’t quite know how to go about it.

Jeno blinks at him a few times, he didn’t really think about this before. “I guess you’re right. I didn’t have expectations, frankly, we thought they let you be on air just to make good tv.  _ Clueless heir to a big chain is in the way while his snobby, preppy pastry chef does all the work. _ Or something like that. But you went off in the second round to show off your skills, huh?”

Jaemin makes a sour grimace, “One skill. Singular. I can’t do anything else.”

Jeno grows more and more curious, the more he is learning about him, “That’s a weirdly specific and niche skill to develop.”

Jaemin shrugs, leans back in his chair, and says, “Not really. It made sense for me. Fondant is therapeutic. Uniform and reliable. In the big locations, we have fondant sheeters, but in smaller ones, it needs to be done by hand. This is a secret,” he says in a small voice as he leans closer to Jeno who mirrors the movement, “But sometimes, I drive out to some smaller shops to just be in the kitchen to work with the fondant.”

They don’t move, still just inches apart, Jeno says also in a small voice, “That’s a really weird fascination you got there, Jaemin.”

At the sound of his own name, Jaemin looks up, their gazes meet, and Jeno feels his breath hitch slightly as something at the back of his mind realizes they’re almost about to kiss. The moment lasts about a second before there’s a noise of something metallic falling to the ground on the set. 

They pull away, out of each other’s personal spaces, one of them clears their throat as a universal sign of  _ let’s never talk about that, please.  _

Jeno offers a crutch in this stiff atmosphere in the form of more small talk. “You don’t bake then?”

“Never learned,” Jaemin admits and Jeno is relieved his opponent seems to be on board with the idea of pretending whatever was about to happen was definitely not about to happen and they can happily resume their small talk agenda. “Knew I was gonna run the company one day so I had to focus on gaining the skills I actually need for my job instead,” he says with a shrug and a small, somewhat sad smile. “It’s all good though. The business program at NYU isn’t Wangsen Bakery and Western Cuisine School in Shanghai or anything fancy sounding like that, but I still went to college. Although I didn’t become a chef or anything.”

“Did you want to?” Jeno finds himself actually genuinely interested in him.

Jaemin shakes his head a weak no, “When I was a kid, maybe. We lived above one of our shops, so I spent quite a lot of time down in the kitchens, it was natural I’d be drawn to it, I guess? That wasn’t the plan for me though. I have to run a business, not bake cakes. So, here I am. At a fucking CEO special of a tv baking competition, trying to persuade people we’re human, too, and whatnot.” He looks over at Jeno, then adds, “I’m really not built for this.”

“You’re doing well,” Jeno says in a small voice. The expression on Jaemin’s face tells him he wants to believe those words and Jeno wants to help him believe them, too. Coming from a stranger, this is probably the best he can do for now, though. “For a CEO who doesn’t bake, this could have gone much much worse, trust me,” Jeno jokes with a smile on his face.

Jaemin again laughs and Jeno’s insides swell. Jaemin is looking at him, a tired but comfortable smile on his lips. It seems like there might be a moment happening between them again, with Jaemin’s gaze falling to Jeno’s lip, the smile falling off Jaemin’s face slightly, like he’s just realizing something. Jeno can’t decide whether he wants to freeze time right then or fast forward a little.

“Jaemin,” Jeno starts, unnerved at Jaemin’s sudden change of mood.

“Yeah?” Jaemin prompts after a beat of silence.

The moment drags on and the time is frozen. They’re close, although not as close as before, Jeno could still count his bottom lashes. After some time, he can’t take looking at him without reaching out so he pulls away, heart hammering against his chest.

Jeno has to dispel whatever thoughts were starting to form in his head again, “Are you- Are you happy with the work you’re doing?”

“Excuse me? Trying to undermine my confidence by implying I’m shit at running my company?” Jaemin asks in a light tone, clearly taking it as a joke.

“No, no,” Jeno rephrases, “Is this what you’d want for yourself, though? Running a business this big, I can’t even imagine, but still. Maybe you could find something you’re actually passionate about, if you ever dreamt of being a pastry chef yourself.”

“I am passionate! About upholding traditions, not disappointing my father, honoring the memory of my grandpa. All great passions of my life,” he finishes in a defeated tone.

“Well, maybe you should look into part-timing in fondant rolling,” Jeno responds jokingly.

“Ha, ha,” Jaemin says dryly, “Very funny.” He glances at Jeno from the corner of his eye. “Do you ever regret having opened your own business?”

“No. Why are you asking?”

Jaemin shrugs, fiddling with the water bottle in his hands, he says, “Sometimes I think my grandpa would hate what Royal Icing has become. He was like you, I think. Opened up a shop cause all he wanted to do was bake. I don’t know the details but grandma used to tell me grandpa got persuaded into opening up the second and third locations. It wasn’t his plan to run a multi-franchise situation, he wanted to be hands-on in the kitchens and all that. It just snowballed rather quickly. Soon, he had to stop preparing the cakes himself. Grandma says it killed his soul when he didn’t have time to be a chef anymore. Instead, he had to run a business,” he looks up at Jeno briefly before again averting his gaze. He shrugs, “I’m just trying to think what it’s like having one singular shop. Does everyone wanna grow into several locations? Or does that happen only to some lucky, greedy ones? I dunno, just thinking about useless shit.”

Jeno actually stops to think of it for a while. They used to dream big with Donghyuck; to reach more customers, it would make sense to open more stores. Their dreams had to scale down though, for some, the world is simply not made for big dreams like that. “For us,” Jeno starts, “that idea was on the table, yeah. But I think it was desperation. Greed, as you said. It’s hard, to be honest. There used to be months when we didn’t even break even, especially in the beginning. And that sorta thing just drives you towards greed. Capitalism is merciless.”

“Capitalism is merciless,” Jaemin echoes solemnly. “You still planning to open up a new location soon then?”

Jeno has to bark out a laugh, a dry, bitter sound, “No way. I think we’ve just gotten on our feet finally. No way in hell we’re gonna risk everything again with a new store. We literally signed up for this thing here so we can afford new shit for the kitchen.” Jeno suddenly feels a little bit pathetic whining about their financial situation to someone like Na Jaemin, someone who doesn’t have to worry about being able to afford wages for their bakers and staff every other month.

Jeno notices Jaemin looking at him with a relaxed but serious expression, looking him over from head to toe. It makes Jeno feel a little hot in his face, maybe.

“What,” he grits through his teeth.

“Nothing,” Jaemin replies calmly. “I’m just thinking how funny it is we’re both here as equals on this show, but our lives and businesses are so different. I could never relate to what you’re going through at work, just like you could never really grasp what I’m dealing with.”

“I guess,” Jeno admits, fidgeting in his seat a little. He thinks back to this morning, to the start of the show, “I also thought that. That there’s nothing to compare between our companies. I’m sure they could have gotten different opponents for both of us if someone actually gave a fuck.”

Jaemin offers a toothy grin, it makes him look about 5 years younger. “I, for one, am glad we got the competition we got.”

“Oh, yeah?” Jeno can’t help the smile forming on his lips as well, “Dare I ask, why?”

“Otherwise I wouldn’t have met you,” he says, so small and careful that Jeno wants to read more into it. Wishes there was more to it, despite himself.

It makes Jeno look away, a small, almost embarrassed laugh escaping him, “That’s nice, Jaemin.”

“I mean it,” Jaemin admits, also looking away, somewhere near the table with the snacks. “Dunno why, really, but I’m glad we met.”

A small smile that Jaemin can’t see appears on Jeno’s lips, “Me, too.”

🍰

On his way back to their workstation before the judges’ evaluation of the cakes, Jaemin passes Jeno and Donghyuck’s cake. It’s taller than theirs, the structure looks more complicated, and there are these delicate pastel-colored flowers in between the tiers, dark patterns scribbled along the sides of the frosting in thin dark chocolate. Jaemin’s eyes fall to a small scribble at the very bottom of the lowest tier, in a small font, there’s a carefully written Sweet Nothings. Something about seeing the signature on their cake makes Jaemin already miss the few minutes they spent on their own with Jeno.

As irrational as it may sound, he really is glad they met.

_ I’m glad we met. Me, too. I’m glad we met. Me, too. I’m glad we met. Me, too. _

It’s on repeat in Jaemin’s head and he can’t make it quiet down even as all four of them are standing in front of the judges’ table, waiting for their scores. It goes by rather quickly. The judging actually happened while the contestants were off-camera, so now all that remains is collecting the prize.

Five judges are giving out their scores; for cupcakes and cake separately. 

Renjun’s pretty purple coconut lavender cupcakes won them the first round. Jaemin looks over at him, a satisfied smile in his features, head held high. A few feet away, Donghyuck and Jeno hold hands, focused expressions on both their faces. Suddenly, Jaemin isn’t so sure whom he wishes the victory more.

Risking feeling like a traitor, Jaemin feels a load fall off his shoulders when Donghyuck and Jeno are crowned the winners of this episode.

There’s a blast of confetti over the whole set and a big cardboard cheque being carried over by the host of the show. Jeno and Donghyuck are hugging, Jeno almost lifting his co-worker off the floor. 

Jaemin checks on Renjun whose eyes are trained on him, giving him a curious once-over. Jaemin quickly schools his expression into something that would be less of a giveaway of how happy he is they’ve just lost.

The last scenes are shot quickly, Jaemin and Renjun on the sidelines, while Jeno is giving the last bits of an interview.

“Be honest now, Jeno,” the host starts, “Did you think you had a chance against a giant like Royal Icing in this competition? Or were you going into this knowing you wouldn’t be taken down by them?”

Jeno’s face radiates glee, relief, “Honestly, we weren’t expecting anything. Came in hopeful and once we learned who our competition was, honestly, our confidence rose. Unrightfully though,” Jeno looks over at Jaemin and Renjun, their eyes meet again and Jaemin feels his heart skip a beat, just like when they were backstage, close and looking at each other like something was about to happen. “I’d say our competition today was more than capable.” Looking back to the host Jeno adds, “I mean, have you seen that fondant work on their cake?”

🍰

Jaemin thinks back to what Renjun told him earlier today,  _ Allow yourself more freedom. Let yourself hope. _

Heart somewhere up in his throat he approaches the Sweet Nothings team. A split second of eye contact with Donghyuck and Donghyuck is saying something to Jeno in a low voice before he walks off, shit-eating grin on his face.

Jeno turns around to Jaemin and Jaemin freezes for a moment, before he remembers what he came here to do.

With a potentially too wide smile on his lips, he says, “Hey, congrats. Listen,” Jaemin trails off with a small sigh. “Chancing that I will sound creepy here, I just wanna say, I looked you up,” he says waving his phone around a bit.

Jeno looks at him, a slight concern in his features, “Looked me up?” he repeats in a steady, almost cold tone as he’s packing up his things into a small duffle bag.

“Your store!” Jaemin hurries to salvage it, “Sweet Nothings, I mean. I didn’t look you up, specifically, that would be weird.”

“Oh,” Jeno’s face relaxes, eyebrows rising up a little in mild surprise, “That’s public knowledge, so that’s chill.”

“Right,” Jaemin drags on, not really knowing how to not come off as creepy, yet get his point across. “So, Hudson Street, huh?”

Jeno looks up at him, one corner of his lips lifting into a knowing smile. “Yeah, what about it?”

“We also have a new location on Hudson street,” Jaemin announces proudly.

Jeno groans, “Oh, don’t you worry, I’m aware.”

Right. Of course Jeno would know there’s a Royal Icing franchise just across the street from them. And of course he wouldn’t be particularly happy about it.

Jaemin clears his throat, “Right. So, it’s very probable I will have to make a few business related visits to that specific location in the near future.”

The well-knowing smile is back on Jeno’s lips as he stands a little closer to Jaemin. “Oh, is that so?” he says in a smooth voice that makes goosebumps run up Jaemin’s arms.

“Yeah,” Jaemin also lowers his voice, only for Jeno to hear. Risking he’s gonna sound ridiculous, he’s finally getting to his point, “You have a cafe at Sweet Nothings, right?” Jeno nods. “And you serve coffee there, then?”

Jeno unsuccessfully tries to stifle a small laughter. “Yes, Jaemin, that’s usually the definition of a cafe; coffee is sold there,” he says, looking down between them, careful fingertips brushing against the back of Jaemin’s palm.

Jaemin watches him being so dangerously close, tries to take it all in. He knows that if there was no staff around and Renjun over in the corner facetiming his boyfriend, Jaemin couldn’t guarantee what he would or wouldn’t do right then. “So, I guess, I might see you there then, Lee Jeno.”

“Gonna make time for Sweet Nothings during your super important and totally real business trip to your Hudson street location?” Jeno asks, clearly teasing.

It’s a bit out of place for Jaemin, being able to flirt like this with someone he’s just met. But Jeno just makes it easy, so so easy, standing so close, just the smallest contact point of the pads of his fingers against Jaemin’s skin. Jaemin wishes he had just a tiny bit more courage in him right then. Instead, he just says, “I’ll make time for you.” The second the words leave his mouth, he internally cringes. “Tuesday?” he quickly offers, hoping Jeno will ignore the cheesy line.

There’s a pout on Jeno’s lips, but his cheeks still show the smile from before. “I’m off this Tuesday. Tell you what,” he reaches for Jaemin’s hand holding his phone, “Gimme your phone.” He doesn’t wait for Jaemin’s response and is already typing into his contact list, “This way you can just text me to see if I’m working. Once you’ll have to make your absolutely not made-up trip down there, you should stop by.”

“Lee Jeno,” Jaemin starts as he’s taking his phone back, “Are you hitting on me?” he says in fake surprise.

“Na Jaemin,” the smile is so well audible in Jeno’s voice, Jaemin almost lets his eyes flutter close, “ Where have you been the whole day?”

🍰

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to mandu and hui for organizing this and finding the best giftee for me <3


End file.
